Monday, April 29, 2013

Finally hoisting the Final Four Championship Cup!


The Webster University Final Four Championship team finally has a chance to hoist the President's Cup today, April 29, instead of April 7 at the Closing Ceremony.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Webster Journal Guest Commentary


Guest commentary 
Webster Journal 
http://websterjournal.com 

By Paul Truong 
11-time national champion 
Director of Marketing for SPICE 

 In this very difficult economy, this is a critical strategical question that all businesses must ask themselves. It’s a challenging chess move which business owners, chief executive officers, as well as university presidents and provosts must make. 


Let’s say you own a restaurant with great food and service. But business is slow. Do you spend money to advertise, or do nothing and hope for the best? The right business decisions propel companies to the top, while the wrong ones put companies out of business. 

The same goes with higher learning institutions. There are countless good universities, and they’re going after a similar pool of students. In order to have an advantage, universities have to promote to be known locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. This is expensive. And even if they do, there’s no guarantee that the right audience will see it. 

Some universities choose to spend millions to advertise. Some choose to do it through athletics (football, basketball, baseball, etc.). There’s no one-size-fits-all formula. Every university is different. Each has different needs. Even after these universities succeed in getting their names out, they still have to make a compelling case for the students and their parents to choose them. 

These are difficult chess moves which presidents, provosts and marketing departments must navigate through. Standing pat and doing nothing will surely lead to failure. 

Why chess? 

And why was this a brilliant move by President Elizabeth Stroble and Provost Julian Schuster? 

A top-ranked chess program costs a fraction of a nationally ranked football or basketball program. But the benefits can be much greater in many ways. 

Here is why: 

Outside of soccer (FIFA has more than 200 member nations), chess is the second most popular sport in the world (FIDE, the world chess federation, has more than 175 member nations). According to the latest statistic, there are more than 700 million players worldwide, and 45 million in the United States alone. About half of this number is K-12 children and adolescents. 

Chess is a global game and Webster University is a global university. When the chess team succeeds on the biggest stage, it will not only promote and boost the image of the Webster Groves campus, but all of the campuses across the United States and around the world. Chess has been scientifically proven to help young people do better in school. 

This is why chess is a part of the school curriculum in more than 40 countries. And statistically speaking, students who play chess collectively have higher grade-point averages. 

Many universities offer chess scholarships and create chess programs. They want to dip into this big pool of top-notch students. FYI: The average GPA of the Webster Final Four Championship team is around 3.6, and they’re all full-time students. A recent national scholastic event in Nashville, Tenn., drew 5,335 K-12 players, plus around 15,000 parents, coaches and siblings. Countless scouts and university recruiters were there for the same reason. 

Chess is the best kept secret for universities. It’s inexpensive and brings great results. Some other universities provide a lot more chess scholarships than Webster. But they didn’t have the same success. Many professional football, basketball and baseball teams spend big money but don’t win championships. The New York Yankees, New York Knicks and Dallas Cowboys are just a few glaring examples. 

Lindenwood University created their chess program at the same time as Webster. They offer a lot more scholarships. But they didn’t make the Final Four. They also didn’t get the same national and international coverage. The chess scholarship budget of the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) and some other universities are bigger than Webster University. But that didn’t yield the same success. 

Therefore, it’s very clear that Webster didn’t buy a championship. They simply did a better job in scouting for the right personnel. President Elizabeth Stroble and Provost Julian Schuster made a better decision than other universities to bring this world-class chess program to St. Louis. This is what it takes to checkmate the competition, not money. 

Even with four freshmen, Webster is ranked as the No. 1 Division I team in the nation since its inception in August 2012, and won the Final Four eight months later, ahead of Yale University, Princeton University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, Washington University, Pennsylvania State University (Penn State), New York University, Texas Tech University, UT Dallas, University of Maryland in Baltimore, etc. This is unheard of in the history of sports. 

This chess program last year generated national and international coverage of more than 500 newspapers, blogs, TV and radio stations to tens of millions of people. The list includes ESPN, Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the New York Daily News, The Washington Post, etc. Webster University was featured this past week on the cover of The Washington Post and other media. 

It’s the kind of publicity money can’t buy, and even if you could, it would cost millions each year. This will result in long-term benefits for Webster in reputation, enrollment, as well as potential donations and sponsorships. It’s a brilliant chess move by our administrators, which will surely benefit the university as a whole. 

The competition is fierce. Every university is actively trying to get a bigger share of the best student pool. President Stroble and Provost Schuster have the long-term strategical vision to take Webster University to the next level. 

In chess, great players will look at the entire board, from both sides, to make the correct assessment and come up with the right strategical plan. To judge a position without seeing the entire picture will lead to definite failure. It takes grandmaster moves to be ahead of the game. I believe that President Stroble and Provost Schuster have clearly made the winning moves. 

Quick facts: In eight months, the Webster chess team has won six national, three state, 11 major titles and broken numerous records. It’s the strongest team in college chess history. To know more about this program, please visit websterchess.blogspot.com

Here is another excellent opinion piece: http://websterjournal.com/2013/04/17/guest-commentary-celebrate-the-success-of-your-peers/

Monday, April 15, 2013

Another College Chess Record

After this past weekend at the St. Louis Open, 3 members of the Webster University Final Four Championship team are now above 2700 (USCF) at the same time. This is the first for any American collegiate chess team.

GM Wesley So is now at 2728 USCF. His LIVE FIDE rating is 2705, which makes him the 41st ranked player in the world. He is also the #2 junior in the world, and #1 in the Philippines.

 

GM Georg Meier is now at 2702 USCF and ranked among the top 100 in the world. He is the top German born player and a key member of the German European Championship team last year.

 

GM Ray Robson's latest rating is 2700 after the Final Four. He is currently the #1 American born (representing the US) player on both the USCF and FIDE list. He is also the #9 junior in the world.

 

All three are members of their national team at the Olympiad.


Incoming Webster U freshman GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam is rated 2802 USCF and 2717 FIDE. He will be the first American collegiate player to be above 2800 in USCF rating. Liem is also the former #1 junior in the world and the #1 rated player from Vietnam.


 

There are 3 requirements for any SPICE members:

1. They must focus in their school work to maintain good grades. My standard is much higher than the standard required by the College Chess Committee. The grade point average of the team is around 3.6 / 4.0 and all students are taking full loads.


2. They must be willing to work hard on their chess to improve. So far, players from SPICE have all reached their peak ratings during their tenure with the program.


3. They must conduct themselves in a professional manner to represent themselves, Webster University, SPICE, their families, and their countries well. 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

All The Right Moves

 
All The Right Moves 
Area boasts a pair of national chess team champions: Vianney High & Webster University 
by Jaime Mowers 
April 12, 2013
A pair of local chess teams are basking in the glow of recent national championship wins.

Webster University's Gorlocks and St. John Vianney High School's Golden Griffins are celebrating their national titles. Webster University won the Final Four of college chess in Rockville, Md., last weekend, while Vianney garnered top honors in its division in the U.S. Chess Federation's SuperNationals V K-12 tournament in Nashville.

Webster University's collegiate chess team is tops in the nation, having won the competition. Also known as The President's Cup, Webster entered the Final Four tournament as the top seed. The team has four starters and two alternates, all of whom are ranked as chess grandmasters by the World Chess Federation. In fact, the entire Webster chess team includes eight grandmasters -- unheard of in the world of collegiate chess.

The tournament ended just past noon on Sunday, April 7, with Webster University victorious in its match against the University of Texas-Dallas. A celebration welcoming the national champions back from the competition was held on Monday, April 8, in Marletto's Cafeteria on Webster University's main campus.


Webster's six Final Four team members include grandmasters Wesley So, Ray Robson, Georg Meier, Fidel Corrales, Manuel Leon Hoyos and Anatoly Bykhovsky.

Webster has been ranked number one in the nation since August 2012, when the team was officially formed. Susan Polgar, Webster's chess head coach, said this is the first time in history that a first-year collegiate chess team has gone to the Final Four, much less claim a national title.


Polgar said she hopes the team will have many more national championship titles in its future.

"It's a great honor and I'm very proud of bringing the first collegiate chess title to Webster University and St. Louis - I hope it's the first of many more," she said. "I'm very proud of the team. They've worked extremely hard over the past several months not only on their chess movements, but on their physical fitness to be ready for the competition."

Polgar said many people don't realize how demanding chess can be. The team played for 10 hours during the first day of competition and four hours on the second day.

"It's actually very grueling because of the length of the competitions," she said. "Even sitting and focusing your fullest attention for four or five hours at a time can be difficult."

Polgar would like to thank everyone who has supported the chess team including the Webster University administration, St. Louis and many community members.

The Final Four is the most prestigious team tournament in collegiate chess; the winner is known as the national champion of college chess. In addition to Webster University, the other three teems in the final four were the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Texas-Dallas and University of Illinois.


More here.

Monday, April 08, 2013

Webster Celebrates College Chess Title


Webster Celebrates College Chess Title, As New Hire Pays Off 
by Alan Greenblatt 
April 08, 2013 3:39 PM 
NPR

If there's no such thing as bad publicity, how much is good publicity worth? Webster University wants to find out.

Last year, the university didn't have a chess team. On Sunday, its team took home the national college championship, the President's Cup, after winning what is often called the "Final Four" of chess.

Webster, which is located just outside of St. Louis, picked up its team nearly intact last year from Texas Tech. The university hired coach Susan Polgar, who had won two straight championships in Texas, and the whole team came along with her.

Webster's chess team includes eight grandmasters. It's become instantly so dominant that two of its squads qualified for the chess Final Four, although only one was allowed to play.

When it comes to winning championships, Polgar and her players "have been there, individually and collectively," Webster provost Julian Schuster said Monday at a campus rally celebrating the team's victory.

"Let us thank them for what they've done for us," Schuster said. "For the first time in the almost 100-year history of our university, we are the national champion."

Webster, which is now private and non-denominational, was founded as a Catholic women's college and has become known over the years for its performing arts programs and its business school. Its main campus is in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Groves, but Webster boasts almost 100 satellite campuses around the world.

Schuster said in an interview that chess was part of his upbringing in Yugoslavia and that his primary goal in bringing Polgar to Webster was incorporating the game into the intellectual life of the university.

Still, he added, "there's no doubt" that their victory is good news for the university.

At the celebration, members of Webster's media relations team counted reporters in attendance, noting that the weekend tournament had garnered the university national attention (including from NPR).

"The Washington Post was the big one," said Patrick Giblin, Webster's director of public relations, referring to a front-page story that ran Saturday.

Chess has become big business in the St. Louis area. The World Chess Hall of Fame moved to the city two years ago, while St. John Vianney High School in nearby Kirkwood won its second national championship this weekend.

Webster's own champions looked a little shy and sheepish as they entered the campus lounge with their big trophy in tow, joining school administrators and someone wearing the costume of the campus mascot, the cheetah-buffalo-St. Bernard blend Gorlok.

There were no pom-pom girls, tipped cars or burning mattresses, but there were cookies in the shapes of chess pieces.

"I wasn't even aware there was a team," said Brieanna Lee, a psychology major sitting in the lounge, eating french fries and ranch dressing.

But Lee admitted their victory in the chess Final Four was "an accomplishment." Other students who happened to be in the lounge said they "lived in the music basement" or were otherwise "too busy" to follow the chess team, but generally agreed its triumph would help their school nonetheless.

Success builds upon success. Most of Webster's grandmasters hail from other countries, but one of the players from Vianney's winning chess team has expressed an interest in joining them from neighboring Kirkwood.

"What we hope is that the success of our chess team will be perceived as the success of the university in general," Schuster says. "It will permeate through everything we do and will speak to how we do things in the future."

Source: http://www.npr.org

Bringing National Championships to St. Louis

St. Louis quietly celebrates two national chess titles
April 09, 2013 12:05 am • By Jesse Bogan 
St. Louis Post Dispatch

WEBSTER GROVES • As thousands gathered Monday for the Cardinals home opener, two other local teams -- the Gorloks and Golden Griffins -- were already celebrating national championships, but in a much lesser followed event: chess.

Webster University won the Final Four of college chess in Rockville, Md., over the weekend, while St. John Vianney High School took top honors in its division in the U.S. Chess Federation's Supernationals V K-12 tournament in Nashville.

The wins are the latest nod to St. Louis, home of the World Chess Hall of Fame, as it tries to establish itself as the chess mecca. 

As quietly as the game is played, so are its championship celebrations quiet compared with mainstream collegiate football and basketball competitions. About 100 people gathered Monday in a Webster University cafeteria to welcome their winning team home.

Some hooted and hollered. Other students watched curiously from a distance as they ate lunch in silence.

Julian Schuster, provost at Webster and chess enthusiast, told the crowd that the win came from "hard work" and "vision."

"This a great day for all of us," he said.

Not only is it the school's first national chess championship, it's the first year it fielded a team, school officials said. 

Webster's bid to become a chess powerhouse happened just nine months after luring grandmaster and coach Susan Polgar away from Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Traditionally thought of as a man's game, Polgar has not only broken the mold, but dominated. Originally from Hungary, this is her third national collegiate chess championship in a row as head coach.

Two of the six players on Webster's winning team followed her from Lubbock. The four others recently came to Webster to play chess for Polgar and the Gorloks, named for the private school's mascot.

All six of the championship players -- including two alternates -- are grandmasters, or top players in chess.

"We hope its the first of many national titles," said Polgar, 44, who wore blue high heels, black slacks and coat with a white T-shirt -- "2013 National Champions."

The players come from all over the world. They are Georg "German Precision" Meier, Wesley "Asian Tiger" So, of the Philippines, Ray "Fearless Attacker" Robson, of Florida, Fidel "Casanova" Corrales Jimenez, of Cuba, Anatoly "Speedy Rocket" Bykhovsky, of Israel, and Manuel "Yucatan Conquistador" Leon Hoyos, of Mexico.

Bykhovsky, who followed Polgar from Texas Tech, won the last match of the tournament. The game lasted four hours. The junior is studying finance. He said he started playing chess young and became a grandmaster by 21.

"I am going to eat with my girlfriend, it's a nice day," he said of how he was going to celebrate.

Leon, 24, a freshman studying economics, won the U.S. Open and is a 4-time Mexican Open champion. He said that many things set his coach apart.

"I feel like I learn just speaking, knowing what her opinion is about many things," he said. 
But Leon couldn't visit long. He had an Italian exam to run to after the celebration in the cafeteria.


Meanwhile, Webster University won its tournament with 9.5 points, beating University of Texas-Dallas, which had 7 points, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 5, and the University of Illinois, 2.5.

Webster dethroned UMBC, the former powerhouse in Maryland. What's more, Alan Sherman, UMBC’s chess director, had predicted Webster would win.

“I think Webster just decided they wanted to win and if they invested more money, they could just outdo the others,” Sherman recently told the Washington Post. “They have the strongest team in the history of college chess. Unlike the UMBC model, where we ramped up over a period of five years, they bought their team in a year.”

Polgar left Texas Tech less than a year ago. Schuster, the Webster University provost, helped lure her here. Both he and school president Beth Stroble traveled to Maryland over the weekend to root for their team.

"Our goal is for these young people to be ambassadors of the university, which they are, and to graduate and go on to great lives," Stroble said in an interview.

A few minutes later, she told the celebratory crowd: "I am proud of an accomplishment that is as strategic and intellectual and academic as it is competitive in any other way."

As a player, Polgar said, she was the first woman to win the grandmaster title and the first woman to qualify for the men's world championship. Now, she said, she mainly just plays chess by computer.

As a coach, she said, she sets herself apart by training players not to attack early, but also by focusing on life away from the chess board. She said the team celebrates birthdays, plays soccer to try to have fun and be in a supportive environment.

"It's a combination of things," she said of her success in coaching. "High expectations. Working hard for it and focusing on team chemistry."

Physical fitness is part of it, too. It's not uncommon for a day's competition to last 10 hours.
"People usually don't realize how important endurance is in a chess competition," she said. "It's very grueling."

She said she left Texas Tech because of a lack of a budget that was promised. She said there was also a lack of understanding and respect for chess there. 

"You know how Texas is everything is about football, football, football, and then maybe some basketball and baseball, chess certainly is not on the list."

She said she liked the chess culture in St. Louis, which hosts the U.S. championship and other competitions.

"We are very comfortable with how chess is being respected as an activity, practically like football would be respected at Texas Tech," she said.

Regarding the small turnout compared with the Cardinals home opener, she said: "I understand it's not like baseball yet, but we are working on you guys."

Full article here: http://www.stltoday.com

Webster wins Final Four


Webster wins Final Four of chess, with UMBC finishing third 
By Michael S. Rosenwald,
April 07, 2013
Washington Post

Webster University won the Final Four of college chess in Rockville on Sunday, dominating the University of Texas-Dallas and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, the hometown favorite and former powerhouse.

UMBC finished third, behind UT-Dallas.

The victory was Webster’s first Final Four championship, but not the first title for its coach, Susan Polgar, who left her job directing the Texas Tech program last year after two consecutive Final Four victories.

Polgar’s team of grandmasters followed her to St. Louis — an unprecedented event in collegiate chess that made national headlines.

“I think Webster is now clearly the dominant force in chess,” said longtime UMBC chess director Alan Sherman. “There’s no doubt about that.”

UMBC perfected the modern collegiate chess model, offering scholarships to grandmasters from around the world, racking up championships and generating positive PR. But UMBC is increasingly the underdog now. The school has won just two Final Four titles since 2007 after winning four straight in the mid-2000s. Sherman predicted Webster’s win last week.

Webster finished with 9.5 points in the round robin tournament with four players competing for each team. UT-Dallas had 7 points, while UMBC had 5 and the University of Illinois scored just 2.5.

UMBC was out of the running for the title after the first two rounds on Saturday, when it scored just 2.5 points. The school lost its head-to-head match against Webster, 2.5-1.5, and fell to UT-Dallas, 3-1.

Webster and UT-Dallas squared off Sunday morning for the title, with each school playing four grandmasters. (UMBC came into the tournament with two grandmasters.) Webster won the round, 3-1.

“I’m very happy for the team and proud of the way we prepared,” said Polgar, whose bosses, the president and provost of Webster, traveled to Rockville for the tournament.

Polgar will not, however, bring home the tournament’s coveted President’s Cup trophy.

Before the tournament started, Polgar tweeted that her former employer, Texas Tech, “forgot to send back the President’s Cup. Now the winning team will not have the cup to bring back. 1st time cup was not returned.”

Source: http://articles.washingtonpost.com

History making feat

Webster University made history when it became the first St. Louis team ever to win a Final Four collegiate chess championship. Webster’s top-ranked chess team emerged victorious in the President’s Cup – also known as the Final Four of Collegiate Chess – a two-day throw-down that determines the national champion of college chess teams. The tournament was held Saturday and today in Rockville, Md.

This is the first time in history a team made it to the Final Four of Collegiate Chess in its first year at a school and also the first time that a first-year team has been ranked as the No. 1 seed in the Final Four. Webster’s chess team has ranked No. 1 since August 2012, when the team was officially formed.

Webster will welcome the national champions back to campus during a lunch-time ceremony on its Webster Groves campus Monday.

“Congratulations to all the members of our team and all who support them, as I know that they have worked hard to prepare for this moment,” said President Beth Stroble, who was in the Washington, D.C. area this weekend to watch the Final Four. “Their competitors were smart, tough, and skilled and there were many tense moments this weekend, which makes this championship particularly significant for Webster University. I couldn’t be prouder.”

“Today was a great day for chess, for Webster and for Webster’s chess team, and for all of our students who worked hard to win this tournament,” said Provost Julian Schuster, who also accompanied the team to the Final Four competition. “We are all winners because this accomplishment came about through the hard work and dedication from the people who love chess, who love Webster, and from all our supporters in the community. We are proud of all of our students and are proud of the chess program, and we look forward to many more years of championships.”


The Final Four is the most prestigious team tournament in collegiate chess; the winner is known as the national champion of college chess. To get to the Final Four, teams must first compete in the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, held each year during the last week of December. Only the top four teams in this event qualify for the Final Four. This year, in addition to Webster, other schools competing in the Final Four were the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, University of Texas-Dallas and University of Illinois.

In the round robin-format Final Four, each of the four school teams played in three rounds of competition, playing one full match against each of the other schools. Each game won was one point to the school, and each draw was one-half point. Game points determine the overall winner.

While Webster entered the competition in the top spot, the win was not easy. Webster swept Illinois in the first round, earning four points, and in the second round against Maryland the team drew three games and won the fourth. By the end of the day, Webster only led University of Texas by one-half point at 6.5 to 6.

In the final round on Sunday, Webster faced the Texas team. Two of the games were a draw, and Webster won the final two matches, earning 9.5 points to Texas’ 7.

“It was a nail-biter down to the final moments,” said Susan Polgar, the chess team coach. “We had a win and draw when the first two games ended in the third round, but with two more games going, there was still a chance that Texas could still defeat us. When we clinched the championship with a draw and a win on the last two boards, everyone in the room jumped to their feet in excitement.

“We are very appreciative of all the people at Webster who cheered us on, especially all the Webster alumni and employees in the D.C. area who were able to come to the championship to show us support,” she added.

During Sunday’s awards ceremony at the competition, Polgar was named the “College Chess coach of the year.” This is the third team in a row that Polgar has coached to a President’s Cup victory. Before joining Webster, Polgar was the coach for Texas Tech’s chess team, which won in 2011 and 2012.

With eight grand masters on its team, Webster sent six of them to the Final Four, including four freshmen who had never previously competed in the Final Four: Georg Meier, an international business major and a sophomore, Wesley So, a freshman finance major, Ray Robson, a freshman who is still exploring majors, Fidel Corrales Jimenez, a freshman computer science major, Anatoly Bykhovsky, a finance major and junior, and Manuel Leon Hoyos, an economics major and freshman.

Webster will host a ceremony for the winning team at 11:30 a.m. Monday, April 8 in Marletto’s, the student cafeteria located on the ground floor of Loretto Hall on the Webster Grove campus. The event is open to the campus community.

With its home campus in St. Louis, Webster University (www.webster.edu) is the only Tier 1, private, non-profit U.S.-based university providing a network of international residential campuses. Founded in 1915, Webster University’s campus network today includes metropolitan, military and corporate locations around the world, as well as traditional residential campuses in Asia, Europe and North America. The university is committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence.

For more information on Webster’s chess team, visit http://webster.edu/spice/.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Webster chess team's accomplishments



Chess Team Accomplishments

The Webster University chess team has been ranked #1 in Division I College Chess since its inception in August 2012. It has never relinquished the top ranking.

National Championships (6)

 August 2012

  • 2012 U.S. Open Championship: 1st place (GM Manuel Leon Hoyos)
  • 2012 U.S. Open Rapid (g/15) Championship: 1st place (GM Andre Diamant and IM Vitaly Neimer)
  • 2012 U.S. Open Blitz Championship: 1st place (GM Andre Diamant), 2nd place (GM Anatoly Bykhovsky) 

December 2012

  • 2012 PanAm Intercollegiate Championship: Both A and B team tied for 1st place
  • 2012 PanAm Intercollegiate Championship: Top reserve player (GM Manuel Leon Hoyos)

April 2013

  • 2013 College Chess Final Four: 1st place (GMs Georg Meier, Wesley So, Ray Robson, Fidel Corrales Jimenez, Manuel Leon Hoyos, and Anatoly Bykhovsky)

State Championships (3)

September 2012

  • 2012 Missouri State Championship: 1st place (GM Denes Boros and GM Anatoly Bykhovsky)
  • 2012 Missouri State Rapid Championship: 1st place (GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez)
  • 2012 Missouri State Blitz Championship: 1st place (GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez)

Major International Events

August 2012

  • 2012 World Chess Olympiad (Istanbul, Turkey): Team Silver in Group A (GM Ray Robson - USA)
  • 2012 World Chess Olympiad (Istanbul, Turkey): Team Bronze in Group B (GM Wesley So - Philippines)

January 2013

  • 2013 World Cup Qualifier: GM Wesley So qualified for the 2013 World Cup which will take place in Tromsø, Norway in August 2013

February 2013

  • 2013 Reykjavik Open: Co-champion (GM Wesley So)
  • 2013 Grenke Baden Baden Chess Classis: Webster GM Georg Meier drew the reigning World Champion Anand both games in their 2-game encounter

Major U.S. Events

October 2012

  • 2012 SPICE Cup Open: 1st place (GM Ray Robson), 2nd place (GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez), 3rd place (IM Vitaly Neimer) 

January 2013

  • 2013 Cardinal Open: 1st place (GM Andre Diamant)

November 2012

  • 2012 Thanksgiving Open in St. Louis: 1st place (GMs Georg Meier, Fidel Corrales Jimenez, Denes Boros)
  • 2012 SLCC GM Invitational: 1st place (IM Vitaly Neimer) 

March 2013

  • 2013 Philadelphia Open: 1st place (GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez)

Additional records

  • 1st team in history (Webster University) to be ranked #1 in the nation in the first year of forming a team (August 2012 - now)
  • 1st team in history (Webster University) to qualify for the Final Four in the first year of forming a team (December 2012)
  • 1st team in history (Webster University) to be seeded #1 in the Final Four in the first year of forming a team (April 2013)
  • 1st female (Susan Polgar) to coach a men's team to the National Championship (2011)
  • 1st female (Susan Polgar) to coach a men’s team to back to back National Championships (2011-2012)
  • 1st female (Susan Polgar) to coach a men’s team to 3 straight National Championships (2011-2013)
  • 1st coach, male or female, to win National Championships with 2 different schools (TTU 2011-2012, and Webster U 2013)
  • Most points scored in the Final Four (April 2013 - Webster University finished with 9.5 points)
  • Largest margin of victory in the Final Four (April 2013 - Webster University finished 2.5 points ahead of 2nd place UTD)
  • 1st person (Susan Polgar) to be named College Coach of the Year (April 2013)